Welcome, tervetuloa!

I'm so happy you're here to learn Finnish. I'm Varpu, MSc, educator, and the founder of Her Finland community.

But more than that, I’m your friend from Finland who wants to help you start learning Finnish the easy way.

I know I can't really invite you over to my house for ”kahvi ja pulla” (coffee and cinnamon buns - a Finnish tradition), so I've tried to do the next best thing.

With this online course and me talking to you via video I want to make you feel welcome. And to encourage you on this language journey.

I am here for you. Every step of the way. You can do this! So let's get right into it.

This course is based on the friendly iceberg method, designed by Her Finland. This method has four components: pronunciation, words, grammar and culture.

When it comes to culture, we also need to talk about building up and nurturing a learning culture.

BUILDING UP A LEARNING CULTURE

Here are the key things:

• You don't need to be perfect.
• Listen to your thoughts.
• Make learning Finnish a habit.
• Use memory tricks.
• Say the words out loud.

How to make learning Finnish a habit? Here's how:

• Limit the time
• Pick a specific time of a day for your studies
• Tell others
• Have a plan for those "weak moments"
• Come up with a reward

If you're interested in learning more about the priming effect and how to build a habit, I highly recommend a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Two powerful memory tricks

1) Word association. For example: use the words "key" and "toss" to remember the Finnish word "KIITOS" (thank you)

2) Spaced repetition. If you want to remember something for the long term, this trick is very efficient.

• When you have completed the course and the workbook, print a new empty workbook, wait two to four days and fill it.
• When you have done that, print a new empty workbook, wait 7-10 days and fill it.
• When you have done that, print a new empty workbook and increase the interval again (e.g., three weeks, 1,5 months, 3 months, etc…)

THE STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

First, we'll cover the basics:

1. Everyday phrases + pronunciation

2. Personal and possessive pronouns

3. Family words

4. ”How are you?” in Finnish

Then, I'll show you the easy structures that you can use to build Finnish phrases

1. The verb ’to be’

2. The verb ’to have’

3. How to say that you have to do something

4. Simple questions

We'll also learn 

1. Numbers

2. Time expressions

3. Practical expressions and cultural things as a guest

4. Practical expressions and cultural things as a restaurant customer

and much more!

This all is followed by Spoken Finnish hacks and huge bonus pack "Essential Finnish Phrases for Travelers".

You always have my support available: [email protected]

I hope this fills you with excitement and sisu (Finnish courage) to take on this course! 

Ystäväsi (your friend) Varpu

PS. Please use the resources provided to help guide you through this course. Print them out and take notes on them. All the materials can be found in the Course Resources Section.